Football link brings pink tinge to Tudor Black Bay watch

In last year’s Precision special we told the story of how the Tudor trademark was created after Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf saw an opening for a collection of high-quality watches for the man (and woman) who couldn’t quite afford to buy in to the already prestigious brand symbolised by the famous five-pointed crown.

That was back in 1926, six years before the first Tudor watch was sold and a good two decades before Tudor really found its niche as a maker of what are now termed ‘sports watches’ but which came to be favoured by serious explorers and the military as well as the more adventurous type of civilian.

But it wasn’t until the 1960s that Tudor saw sense in aligning itself with motor sport through the formation of the Tudor Watch Racing Team in Japan, an outfit that campaigned a Porsche 906 driven by Tomohiko Tsutsumi  and Jiro Yoneyama.

The partnership was leveraged through a series of newspaper and magazine advertisements, mainly showing the latest Tudor Submariner dive watch on the wrist of Tsutsumi – who soon justified his sponsorship deal by piloting the Tudor red-liveried 906 to victory in the 1969 Suzuka 1000Kms.

And it’s likely to have been this particular automotive link that led Tudor to launch its first driver’s chronographs the following year in the form of the Reference 7031 and 7032 models (the two being identical save for the former having a plastic bezel and the latter a steel one).

The robust 40mm steel case dwarfed the original 36mm effort of its Rolex stablemate the Cosmograph, while other interesting features included unique graphics and a horizontal, acrylic date magnifier at the six o’clock position. The vast majority of dials were finished in grey (with only a dozen or so black examples being known)  and bore a design that led to the watches being nicknamed ‘Homeplate’ due to the pentagon hour markers resembling the home plate of a baseball pitch.

The reference 7031/7032 remained in production for little more than two years, being phased out after the launch of the Reference 7100 which used the same case but contained a different movement and had a new, blue and grey dial.

Its similarity to the markings of a roulette wheel led to it being nicknamed the ‘Monte Carlo’, with original versions of all three models now being highly sought after and – depending on various design nuances – potentially worth as much as £80,000.

Vintage enthusiasts have also been pushing-up prices of Tudor’s next chronograph design. The Prince Oysterdate models that were introduced in 1976 as the first with automatic movements, necessitating the use of a thicker case design that led to the watches being dubbed ‘Big Block’.

These original Big Blocks were superseded in 1989 when the lightly modified 79100 series was launched, a model that remained in production until the arrival of the 79200 that was promoted through advertisements that majored on its toughness.

In 2010, meanwhile, the Homeplate and Monte Carlo designs made a return in a new Heritage Chrono range, which was joined by the Fastrider Black Shield, a ceramic-cased watch that was used to promote the brand’s long-standing partnership with Ducati motorcycles.

Although popular (and value for money) the Heritage models were phased out in 2017 when Tudor introduced the first chronograph movement of its smash-hit Black Bay, complete with an in-house movement certified by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute.

Accurate, affordable, good-looking and (unlike its Rolex Cosmograph relative) available to buy without joining a waiting list, it deservedly won a prize in the Petite Aiguille category for best watch under CHF8000 at that year’s Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.

Since then, Tudor seems to have gone chronograph crazy with an offering of more than a dozen variations on the Black Bay Chrono (including the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 team version recently highlighted on our regular Precision page) and making a pair of chronograph models available in its Pelagos dive watch line, too.

The biggest surprise of 2025, however, was the appearance of a pink dial version of the Black Bay Chrono said to have been inspired by the pink strips worn by the football players of Inter Miami, which is part-owned by Tudor brand ambassador David Beckham. Fitted with a new five-link bracelet launched this year, the watch retails for £5020 and became an instant collector’s piece.

Former England skipper Beckham undoubtedly got one as part of his deal with the brand, despite being more than able to afford several. It was revealed in October that he had trousered a £26m payout from his sprawling media, fashion and sports business.

Tudor Black Bay Chrono, from £4930. tudorwatch.com